Judge is reprimanded for opinion referring to 'iron fist and limp wrist' of gay-marriage decision
A Tennessee judge has been publicly reprimanded for an opinion claiming the U.S. Supreme Court’s gay-marriage decision left state courts without jurisdiction to decide contested divorces.
The Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct sanctioned Judge Jeffrey Atherton of Chattanooga in a letter of public reprimand (PDF) filed Dec. 23. Atherton’s August opinion violated ethics rules requiring judges to promote public confidence in the judiciary, the letter said.
Atherton used the opinion to sarcastically criticize the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. “Since only our federal courts are wise enough to address the issues of marriage, and therefore contested divorces, it only follows that this court’s jurisdiction has been pre-empted,” Atherton wrote in the August opinion.
“Implementation of this apparently new ‘super-federal-judicial’ form of benign and benevolent government, termed ‘krytocracy’ by some and ‘judi-idiocracy’ by others, with its iron fist and limp wrist, represents quite a challenge for a state level trial court,” Atherton wrote.
In the alternative, Atherton found he had jurisdiction because the divorce was uncontested, but he still denied the divorce because statutory grounds had not been proven.
Atherton vacated the opinion and granted the divorce after receiving the disciplinary complaint.
Wrong word in penultimate paragraph corrected at 8:05 a.m.